In this article

Learn the basics of desktop game development using DirectX with the Windows Runtime. We also show you how to develop games as a Windows Store app using C++, C#, or Visual Basic and XAML.

Creating a DirectX game

For games that involve complex 2D graphics or 3D graphics, you can use the DirectX graphics libraries: Direct2D and Direct3D. You develop DirectX games using native C/C++, and if you never developed in these languages, you will find this a difficult place to get started, especially if you have never developed for Windows before.

In this section

In this set of tutorials, you learn how to create a basic Windows Store game with DirectX and C++. We cover all the major parts of a game, including the processes for loading assets such as arts and meshes, creating a main game loop, implementing a simple rendering pipeline, and adding sound and controls.

This section of the documentation describes how to use DirectX and Visual C++ to create a 3-D Windows Store game. With Windows Store apps, Windows 8 introduces an app personality that embraces consumer trends such as touch, motion and proximity sensors, mobility, and other app experiences. This documentation shows how to create a 3-D game named Marble Maze that embraces new form factors such as tablets and also works on traditional desktop and laptop PCs.

Creating a Store XAML game

Windows 8 provides a Windows Runtime app development model for managed code (C#, Visual Basic, and C++) developers creating an interface-driven application with XAML. XAML is an XML schema that defines tags used by the Windows Runtime Windows.UI.Xaml libraries to determine the layout and rendering of user interface elements and containers for desktop apps.

If you know the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) libraries, Silverlight, or Silverlight for Windows Phone, developing a Windows Runtime app will feel familiar. Although there are no managed DirectX libraries, the Windows Runtime libraries provide a core set of XAML-based graphics APIs that you can use to build 2D games and simpler 3D games.